Article

2007-10-16 Home Front: Politix

By Thomas Sowell

With all the problems facing this country, both in Iraq and at home, why is Congress spending time trying to pass a resolution condemning the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago?

Make no mistake about it, that massacre of hundreds of thousands -- perhaps a million or more -- Armenians was one of the worst atrocities in all of history. As with the later Holocaust against the Jews, it was not considered sufficient to kill innocent victims. They were first put through soul-scarring dehumanization in whatever sadistic ways occurred to those who carried out these atrocities.

Historians need to make us aware of such things. But why are politicians suddenly trying to pass Congressional resolutions about these events, long after all those involved are dead and after the Ottoman Empire in which all these things happened no longer exists? The short answer is irresponsible politics.

People of Armenian ancestry in the United States and around the world are justifiably outraged at what happened in the Ottoman Empire -- and at subsequent governments in Turkey which have refused to acknowledge or accept historical responsibility for the mass atrocities that took place on their soil. But the sudden interest of Congressional Democrats in this issue goes beyond trying to pick up some votes.

They want a resolution to condemn what happened as "genocide" -- a word that provokes instant anger among today's Turks, since genocide means a deliberate government policy aimed at exterminating a whole people, as distinguished from horrors growing out of a widespread breakdown of law and order in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. These are issues of historical facts and semantics best left to scholars rather than politicians.

If Congress has gone nearly a century without passing a resolution accusing the Turks of genocide, why now, in the midst of the Iraq war? It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this resolution is just the latest in a series of Congressional efforts to sabotage the conduct of that war.

Large numbers of American troops and vast amounts of military equipment go to Iraq through Turkey, one of the few nations in the Islamic Middle East that has long been an American ally. Turkey has also thus far refrained from retaliating against guerrilla attacks from the Kurdish regions of Iraq onto Turkish soil. But the Turks could retaliate big time if they chose.

There are more Turkish troops on the border of Iraq than there are American troops within Iraq. Turkey has already recalled its ambassador from Washington to show its displeasure over Congress' raising this issue. The Turks may or may not stop at that. In this touchy situation, why stir up a hornet's nest over something in the past that neither we nor anybody else can do anything about today?

Japan has yet to acknowledge its atrocities from the Second World War. Yet the Congress of the United States does not try to make worldwide pariahs of today's Japanese, most of whom were not even born when those atrocities occurred. Even fewer, if any, Turks who took part in attacks on Armenians during the First World War are likely to still be alive.

Too many Democrats in Congress have gotten into the habit of treating the Iraq war as President Bush's war -- and therefore fair game for political tactics making it harder for him to conduct that war. In a rare but revealing slip, Democratic Congressman James Clyburn said that an American victory in Iraq "would be a real big problem for us" in the 2008 elections.

Unwilling to take responsibility for ending the war by cutting off the money to fight it, as many of their supporters want them to, Congressional Democrats have instead tried to sabotage the prospects of victory by seeking to micro-manage the deployment of troops, delaying the passing of appropriations -- and now this genocide resolution that is the latest, and perhaps lowest, of these tactics.

Posted by ryuge 2007-10-16 07:42|| || Front Page|| [11141 views ] Top
File under: Global Jihad

#1 Point taken. But I see this as an opportunity to give the Turks the much deserved slap the administration has refused to give them. Turkey actively obstructed the liberation of Iraq, actively suppresses Kurdish sovereignty and has regularly impinged upon the sovereignty of a democratic Iraq now to the point of threatening war.

The Democrats do not mean to help the President, the Kurds or the cause of liberty but this measure may do just that if it brings matters to a head. Beyond the local situation, anything which serves to prevent Turkey integrating into the EU is to be welcomed.

Finally, there is the matter of elementary justice. The fact Japan has yet to take responsibility for its actions - to even acknowledge its actions - is no defense for others whose morality is impaired. The model is Germany, not Japan.

Posted by Excalibur 2007-10-16 09:42|| 2007-10-16 09:42|| Front Page Top

#2 Sabotage is a good word to use in describing what the dhimmirats have been doing to obstruct the efforts of our troops at every turn. Between the Democrats and their accomplices the MSM and the left it is a surprise we have made any headway in Iraq. Despite these enemies, Iraq has been liberated of a brutal dictator who engaged in genocide in our time. A form of democracy has been established in Iraq. AQ is being pacified. Iraq, hopefully, will stand on its own feet because of our efforts. AQ is being denied a terrorist base from which to spread its poison to the rest of the world. Commerce is returning to Iraq.

Now something needs to be done about AQ in Pakiland. Something has to be done about Iran and Syria to further stabilize the region.

Posted by JohnQC 2007-10-16 13:19|| 2007-10-16 13:19|| Front Page Top

#3 Go ahead, back down in face of Turkish threats, and see what'll happen next week.

Posted by gromgoru 2007-10-16 17:55|| 2007-10-16 17:55|| Front Page Top

#4 Also from REALCLEARPOLITICS > THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND IN WAR.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-10-16 21:10|| 2007-10-16 21:10|| Front Page Top

#5 ASIA TIMES > THE GEOPOLITICAL STAKES OF MYANMAR'S "SAFFRON REVOLUTION". espec to world shipping iff normal freight routes were denied. *Short of war to liberate the Straits of Malaccas, etal., latter means NORTH AMERICAN SUPERHIGHWAY + ARTIC/ANTARTIC ROUTES [northern Russia-FE, southern Africa, etc]may become prioritized.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-10-16 21:16|| 2007-10-16 21:16|| Front Page Top

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